Anyone who knows Duane Forrester, Bing’s head of search, knows he’s a got a ton of SEO knowledge to share, plus personality to go with it (he is, after all, the U.S. Search Awards reigning Search Personality of the Year). Duane joined Bruce Clay in the studio for a special episode of digital marketing podcast SEM Synergy.

The podcast episode is 30 minutes filled with future-forward perspective on a lot of the search engine optimization industry’s favorite topics — from how and when wearable tech will really take off to the emergence of digital assistants like Cortana and Siri.

Read on for highlights from this exclusive interview with Duane Forrester. You don’t want to miss it when he sounds off on:

Among search engine optimization folks there are a couple questions that continually spur on conversation, and one of them is: Link building — is it black hat? The last few weeks have seen a surge of articles and online chats on the topic of link building and its proper place in search engine optimization. Recent discussions about links bring to light the battle-worn wisdom of knowledgeable, go-to search engine optimization minds, like John Mueller and Neil Patel, whose advice has been indispensable in the two years since we first were introduced to Google’s Penguin algorithm update.

Link building is a matter of hot debate among search engine optimization analysts because quality links are vital for top rankings while spam links can land a site with a serious search engine penalty. In the age of Penguin, attention must be paid not only to the links themselves but how they are earned. Even asking for links the wrong way can violate webmaster guidelines, according to a Google blog post from earlier this month.

As moderators of last Thursday’s SEO-focused Twitter chat, #SEOchat, we wanted to hear what top SEOs were feeling about the current state of link building, link removal and disavowing links. The debate was lively and at times surprising. Discover all the thought-provoking and controversial points of view!

Whether you’re new to Google Search Console (formerly called Google Webmaster Tools) or have been using it for years, you might have a question or two about its functionality and capabilities. In this article we answer some of the most frequently asked questions about Google Search Console from our readers as well as some additional ones that we hope will make using the tools easier for you. Get your answers and learn how to use the Google Search Console.

Twitter chats are a crazy-effective way to skyrocket Twitter engagement. The following is a guide that teaches you how to leverage Twitter chats to amplify your brand voice. You’ll learn how to identify Twitter chats that make sense for your niche, engage in them effectively and turbo charge your social media marketing efforts. Fair warning: further reading may result in excess Twitter engagement. Proceed with caution — your Twitter’s about to blow up.

This edition of Free SEO Tool Alert highlights Bruce Clay’s most popular free SEO tool, the Single Page Analyzer. This robust tool breaks down critical on-page elements — such as tag information, word and phrase usage, and readability — and produces insightful reports that identify problem areas, aiding the optimization of web pages. Access this tool without logging in from the Free Tools page on SEOToolSet.com. Learn how to use the tool, how to make sense of the data, and get practical tips on how to leverage the information from the tool to enhance your web page. Discover how to use the Single Page Analyzer.

Apps are largely considered the new SEO frontier. Mobile app usage is growing at an incredible rate and shows no sign of slowing. Overall app usage grew by 76 percent in 2014, and lifestyle apps in particular saw 174 percent growth. If you are have an app or are developing an app, app indexation and deep linking are something you definitely need to be paying attention to. Basically, Google wants to treat your app like a website. It wants to crawl it and index it so that it can return specific pages from an app in search results. That ability to return specific pages within an app? That’s deep linking.

This article is for those just dipping their toes in app indexation. Read on for a breakdown of what app indexing and deep linking actually are, as well as helpful examples of deep linking in action. You’ll also learn basic requirements for Android and iOS setup.

In the latest edition of Free SEO Tool Tuesday, we introduce you to the Link Analysis Report, a free SEO tool that provides a quick snapshot of a URL’s backlinks. Use it to discover your site’s backlinks and the inbound links of your competitors. There are 10 free SEO tools that anyone can use without logging in from the Free Tools page of SEOToolSet.com. This blog walks through the simple steps of how to use the free Link Analysis Report and provides four ways to use the data from the tool to sharpen your organic SEO strategy. Learn how to use the Link Analysis Report tool.

Traffic comes to a website through many avenues, and mobile’s a major highway. As digital marketers and business owners, it’s our job to ensure this road is the shortest, easiest route to our products or services; potential clients, current customers, and the search engines all expect this of us. If you haven’t embraced mobile search engine marketing, don’t worry. Use this guide to learn the most valuable ways you can optimize and advertise your mobile site for customers on the go. Read more.

Devising or revising an SEO strategy for your business and wondering whether or not to go with an in-house SEO or an SEO agency? It’s a common – and good – question to be asking. The answer depends on your budget and your goals.

Each option comes with its own benefits – and in a perfect world you would likely have both. Here’s Bruce Clay’s take on the issue: “It’s crucial to stay current with the latest SEO methodology – that’s very time-consuming, though. It requires several hours a day that a solo in-house SEO probably doesn’t have. An SEO agency or consultant can be a powerful ally, filling in the gaps by mentoring and guiding an in-house SEO.”

If it’s a matter of one or the other, however, it’s important to align the benefits of each and determine which is a better fit for your needs. Read on to find out more about the benefits of each option, with food for thought from our SEO Manager, Robert Ramirez.

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